Wise County Sheriff Lane Akin Friday night announced Tanner Lynn Horner, 31, of Lake Worth has been arrested and charged with capital murder and aggravated kidnapping in the case of the missing 7-year-old Cottondale resident Athena Strand.
Horner is being held in the Wise County Jail with bond set at $1.5 million, according to jail records.
ATHENA STRAND
Akin said using information provided by Horner, who the sheriff said confessed to the crime, investigators were able to locate Strand’s body around 7 p.m. Friday off a county road southeast of Boyd, about six miles from the Cottondale community where she was last seen Wednesday evening. Her body has been sent to the Dallas County Medical Examiner’s Office to determine cause of death.
“Early in the investigation we knew a FedEx driver made a delivery in front of the house about the same time Athena came up missing. With continued good work by this investigative team, they were able to determine that the driver abducted Athena, and from an investigative standpoint, both digitally and through good old interviews, we think Athena died just within an hour or so after her departure from her home,” Akin said.
Horner was described as a contract driver for the company.
The sheriff credited the work of several departments, including the sheriff’s office, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Texas Rangers, Texas Department of Public Safety and others as well as citizens who provided tips for helping bring about a resolution to the case.
“It was a monumental task, and because of the cooperation, all working together we were able to get answers. Some of the answers were not the answers we hoped we would have gotten,” he said, offering his condolences to Strand’s family.
Akin said it appears Horner is not related to the family nor does he know the family. He declined to comment on the specifics of the confession, including why Horner would commit the alleged crime.
Tanner Lynn Horner
Akin has spoken to the family “quite a bit” over the past few days, and he said the family appreciates the care and support they’ve received during this trying time.
“They are devastated, they are angry because of what happened,” he said. “A precious child was taken from their lives. …We give them our condolences, but we also want to give them the privacy they need and give them space, not only the family in Oklahoma but the family here in Cottondale. Let’s give them a little time. Let’s spend some time and pray for these folks so they might be relieved of some of the pain. It’s going to be a difficult few days, some sleepless nights, and they need our support.”
Early Saturday morning, Strand’s mother, Maitlyn Presley Gandy, posted a Facebook message along with photos and video of her daughter.
“I cannot describe the pain and absolute anger I feel,” she wrote. “Missing her doesn’t cover how I feel. My daughter’s name is Athena Presley Monroe Strand, which she would happily announce to anyone listening, and anyone not listening she would make listen. My princess was taken from me from a sick, cruel monster for absolutely no reason. Athena is innocent, beautiful, kind, intelligent, and just the brightest, happiest soul you could ever meet. I don’t want her to be the girl known as the one murdered and discarded by a monster. I want everyone to know, every single person in this world, that this is my baby and my baby was taken from me. I want everyone to know her face and her voice and just how wonderful of a person she is.”
In another early Saturday post, Gandy said her daughter’s favorite color was pink, loved to play dress up, loved animals and enjoyed meals from McDonalds. She said Strand loved all people, including her two baby sisters.
Over the weekend, Wise County school districts and organizations announced plans to wear pink Monday to share their support for Athena’s family. While putting out the call for Wise County residents to wear pink, Wise County Judge J.D. Clark also invited the community to gather at the courthouse 6:30 p.m. Monday to pray for Athena and her family.
For two days, a number of law enforcement agencies, first responders and citizen volunteers searched the family’s six-acre property in the 200 block of County Road 3573 looking for any trace of Strand. Akin said earlier in the day Friday that the investigation into the disappearance was now taking priority over the search.
It appears that within hours of that statement, information was developed that led them to Horner and eventually to the recovery of Strand’s body.
During his press conference earlier Friday afternoon, Akin said Strand was seen getting off the school bus around 4:15 p.m. Wednesday and went inside her home. The sheriff’s office received a call around 6:40 p.m. Wednesday from Strand’s stepmother who said the girl was missing.
“The first information we had, and may still be accurate, is the stepmother and daughter had an argument, Athena got upset and she walked away as she had done in the past and they expected her to come back, but she did not,” Akin said.
An Amber Alert for Strand was issued Thursday afternoon.
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